Bed mattresses made up of materials like memory foam and gel foam draw heavily from chemicals to create the experience of the bed molding to your body’s shape. Memory foam reacts chemically to your body’s temperature and creates that experience of support and comfort. However, if you’re like other consumers, you may want a mattress you can lay down on and not fear for the types of chemicals you’re inhaling or coming into contact with. Natural latex mattresses offer the same experience as memory foam but utilize an organic ingredient. Three models within the market are the Essentia Tatami Queen, Lifekind Trio and the Astrabeds SerenityBed. Natural latex is created from the sap of rubber trees specifically planted and maintained for latex and rubber production. These trees are tapped to create a regular and sustainable resource akin to maple syrup harvesting. The end result is a type of mattress support that doesn’t require the use of dangerous and toxic chemicals to create a long-lasting and always-springy bed.
Many different types of mattresses exist, and latex is among the least common of these types. The unique manufacturing process, in addition to the high price tags, makes such beds difficult to happen upon in most mattress stores. These beds aren’t as widely available as memory foam due to their rigorous manufacturing process. However, the difference of materials ultimately lends toward the mattress’ strengths and makes comparing it against regular memory foam mattresses an even more sensible process. One of the main appealing factors of the organic latex mattress over memory foam is the absence of chemical off-gassing. When you first purchase a memory foam mattress, you’ll likely notice a very strong chemical odor that reportedly fades with time, a by-product of chemical off-gassing. Latex mattresses, on the other hand, are often made without toxic chemicals or hazardous additives and thus don’t smell. In addition, due to their organic nature, the mattresses are also hypoallergenic and mold resistant, maintain their springiness after years of use and remain among the most durable mattresses on the market.
When picking a latex mattress, the design of the mattress is typically the same for any bed. Each layer is designed with holes throughout to encourage air circulation, heat reduction and moisture removal. However, the more comfortable and desirable mattresses are typically those with three or more layers of latex foam. This allows you to create varying levels of foam density for higher levels of comfort and support. While latex by itself is a natural and healthy alternative to memory foam, creating a 100-percent natural latex bed is incredibly expensive. To offset the cost of latex, many bed manufacturers create material blends that leverage the organic nature of latex with low-cost alternatives like synthetic latex, blends of natural and synthetic, and blends of natural and botanical latex. While a fully-organic latex bed may be the epitome of natural, healthy and earth-friendly mattresses, many latex beds will blend materials to create an alternative to all-natural. The best materials found in latex mattresses are that of Dunlop and Talalay latex.
The Dunlop process entails whipping rubber sap into a froth, pouring it into a mold, and then baking it. The natural materials found in rubber often settle to the bottom, resulting in latex layers being heavier on the bottom. The Talalay process adds two steps to Dunlop. After the latex is poured into a mold, the material is put in a vacuum chamber and flash-frozen before baking. The result is a latex more consistent in structure and more expensive. Of all the types of bed mattresses available to you, latex beds are reputed as the most long lasting of all mattresses. Due to the durable and breathable nature of latex, the mattress is better able to circulate air, retain spring and remain comfortable for a minimum of 10 years on average. Warranties help in protect you against product failures that might decrease the lifespan of your bed to anything shorter than that. The warranty of the mattress you choose should be sufficient to protect those first 10 years of use. The all-natural latex mattress simulates the same experience as memory foam, contouring to your body and helping reduce back pressure.
These mattresses respond instantly to your body’s position, allowing you to easily change positions in the night. The result is a good night’s rest and a longer-lasting mattress.We receive free products to review and participate in affiliate programs, where we are compensated for items purchased through links from our site (at no cost to the buyer). See our for our list of comped products and affiliate programs. ContentsBest 100% Natural Latex MattressTop 3 Latex HybridsBest Latex Hybrid Mattresses ComparedGhostBedCasperHelixTop 3 All Latex MattressBest All Latex Mattresses ComparedBrooklyn BeddingPlushBeds Botanical BlissSpindleWhat to look for in a latex mattressNatural vs Synthetic/BlendDunlop vs TalalayLatex mattress warrantyLatex Density/ILDFinal Recommendation Latex is a great sleeping surface because it offers a lot of the benefits of without some of the drawbacks. You can get great comfort and support, but latex generally and has , which some people really appreciate.
Though latex mattresses are generally less popular in terms of number of bed sold, people are starting to realize the benefits of latex with a lot of new bed-in-a-box models making their mattresses at least part latex (think Casper or GhostBed). As time progresses, I fully expect latex to become more and more popular. The other potential benefit of latex is that it can be all-natural. Most companies opt to make their latex mattresses at least part synthetic due to cost, but there are some – which can never be the case for memory foam. As people start to move towards more natural products, I think latex will become more popular. I’ve slept on a lot of latex mattresses at this point (with more on the way), so I’ll highlight a few of my favorites by category: all latex, latex hybrids, and all-natural latex options. Unfortunately a “natural” mattress doesn’t necessarily mean 100% natural in this industry. Sometimes companies will use 10% natural latex and 90% synthetic latex and still call it a natural mattress.
The reason is that natural materials are significantly more expensive, and at the end of the day people frequently choose their wallet over fear of chemicals or desire for an eco-friendly product. That being said, my absolute #1 in the all-natural category is PlushBeds. They make a very comfortable mattress (classic latex feel), and because of their manufacturing process they are able to bring the cost down significantly. They have a number of options, but my favorite is the 10″ Botanical Bliss. Other mattress brands of note in this category are SavvyRest and Habitat Furnishings, though they end up being significantly more expensive. The latex hybrids are right now the most popular type of mattress (of any kind), aiming to offer the (namely pressure-relieving yet responsive at the same time). Hybrid simply means there are other types of foam, most often memory foam, in the mattress. My favorite three are: These are overall high quality mattresses, rating well in my general mattress reviews page.
These three happen to be similarly priced as well, making it easy for you to choose the mattress just based on the brand and slightly different feels. GhostBed is a relatively new brand, but is made by long time mattress veterans Nature’s Sleep. As I said this latex-over-memory-foam construction is very popular right now, but GhostBed used their mattress experience to do it better than most. Compared to similar models, GhostBed rates #1 for two reasons: durability and price. The mattress foam specs are better than nearly all of the similarly constructed competitors, which gives me confidence that the mattress will retain its feel for much longer (note: most of these brands are relatively new, so this is my assessment based on the specs, not personal experience). The price is also incredibly competitive, and only possible because it is manufactured by a company that is already doing such large scale mattress manufacturing. The company clearly leveraged their industry connections to get a very competitively priced product to market (use a coupon for even more savings).
Learn more in my full GhostBed review. Casper is certainly one of the most well-known mattresses today, with their launch really bringing attention to the online-mattress category. Buy Casper on Amazon Here Casper claims that it has the “one perfect mattress,” which I don’t believe to be true (there is no mattress that suits everyone). However if you have average sleep preferences, particularly in terms of firmness, I think that Casper is a really good option. If you’re interested in Casper, look at my Casper review or Casper coupon pages for more information. Helix is a latex hybrid, though the construction of the mattress changes based on your personalized preferences. The company actually makes you take a quiz and then changes the mattress construction based on your responses. I’m a pretty average person when it comes to sleeping preferences, but I thought that Helix did a great job of using the quiz information to suit my preferences.
The comfort is definitely there, and they use quality materials as well (no matter the construction details of your custom mattress). You can read more about the customization options and company in my Helix Sleep review and Helix coupon page. Though the hybrids are popular, some people will prefer an all-latex mattress (by all-latex we mean all comfort layers, though some of these options will still use core foam as the base layer). These tend to have a lot of bounce (for a foam mattress) and can potentially be all-natural/organic as well. My top 3 latex mattresses are: The Brooklyn Bedding (also named #bestmattressever) is very similar to the Love Bed in feel, and actually is made in the same factory. The mattress has a lot of spring to it as well, making it very easy to move around or get out of the bed. A big perk with the Brooklyn Bedding mattress as well is that it comes from a very well-known mattress manufacturer, so I actually trust in the quality and durability of this mattress as much as any I have reviewed.
To learn more about this mattress visit my Brooklyn Bedding review and Brooklyn Bedding coupon pages. The PlushBeds Botanical Bliss is one of my top overall picks. The mattress is one of the few all-natural mattress (yes, 100% organic) mattresses available on the market. On top of that, I think it’s very comfortable and offers great support. The mattress is definitely not cheap, and is by far the most expensive on this best latex mattress page, but compared to other 100% natural latex mattresses, this is actually priced incredibly low. The company is fully vertically integrated (they even import their own latex from Sri Lanka), so they pass on a lot of value to the consumer. Learn more about this company in my PlushBeds review. Spindle is a really unique mattress, providing natural latex at an incredibly affordable price. You do need to assemble the mattress yourself, but once assembled, I daresay you have one of the best mattress values on the market.
An advantage to the mattress is that the layers can be re-organized as well to give you different firmness options. This mattress company is less-known, but after learning more about their manufacturing and methodology, they are one I really like to recommend because they are really the only natural latex mattress available at an affordable price point. Learn more about this mattress in my Spindle Mattress Review. When you look at a latex mattress, you will be exposed to an entirely new terminology compared to other types of mattresses. Key decisions will be natural vs synthetic/blend, Dunlop vs Talalay processing, unique warranty considerations, and density/ILD. The latex in a mattress can be all natural latex, synthetic latex, or a blend of natural and synthetic. Natural latex (from rubber trees) and synthetic latex (made through chemical process) actually feel quite similar, though in general natural latex mattresses are preferred. Generally the decision here comes down to price.
People prefer the feel and eco-friendliness of natural latex, but even the most reasonably priced all-natural mattresses (think PlushBeds) start at around $2000. If you can afford it, go natural, but otherwise synthetic/blend will offer a pretty similar sleeping experience. Dunlop and Talalay are two different types of latex processing. In general the two types of processing result in different feels, with Dunlop leading to a firmer feel and Talalay leading to a softer feel. I don’t think that one type of processing is better than another, although it is true that talalay produces a more consistent latex. I recommend that you think about the feel of the mattress, rather than the processing method, to make your final decision. Related: see common latex mattress complaints You’ll want to look at the warranty carefully (as with any mattress), but the thing to be concerned about with latex is compression/body impressions. This is the most likely issue that will come up with a latex mattress, so just be aware of the terms and how you expect your mattress to behave over time.